1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to searching inventory databases, and more specifically, relates to a method and apparatus for inventory searching that employs a novel inventory representation and manipulation system.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is a common problem in many retail software applications (such as websites) to locate an item in a vendor's available stock that is as similar as possible to an item a customer wants. Currently, in most cases, this problem is solved by having all the information on the item in stock stored in a database. To search for items, the software queries the database to get a list of in-stock items that possess the desired characteristics. Generally, the software then post-processes the result set in some way, generally resorting and filtering the results based on various criteria.
While this solution is very general, it does not scale well over large data sets. This is because the typical database is so general that it is difficult to easily exploit much of the information that is implicitly available in such a database. For example, such implicit information can be the result of the information being inventory information. As a general rule, it is difficult to perform real-time inventory searches using only a database system because such systems are typically too slow to provide the information in a timely manner.
What is therefore needed is a system and method for performing rapid searches of inventory databases. Preferably, such a system and method would employ, at least in part, information implicit in the database information.